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b.
5 May 1861
in
Liverpool
, s. of
EdwardLloyd
,
J.P.
, and
MaryLloyd
(née
Jones
)
. The family's ancestral home was
Penygarnedd
, near
Pen-y-bont-fawr
in
Mont.
, and
J.E.Lloyd
never lost his feeling for this background nor his affection for the area. He was, at first, intended for the
Congregationalist
ministry, and for a considerable time he was a
lay preacher
in the denomination. It was natural that he should take a prominent part in the
Historical Society of the Welsh Congregationalists
when it was founded; and it was very natural too — and to him a subject of immense pride — that he should be elevated
Chairman
of the
Union of Welsh Independents
for
1934-35
.

He went to college at
Aberystwyth
, and from there in
1881
to
Lincoln College
,
Oxford
. In
1883
he succeeded in obtaining a First in Honours Classical Moderations, and in
1885
he was placed in the First Class in the final examination in History. His career at
Oxford
was, thus, nearing its completion before the time of the famous group of
OxfordWelshmen
(like
Owen M.Edwards
(
DWB
, 192-3)
who went up in
Oct. 1884
), and it was over before the
Dafydd ap Gwilym Society
was established in
1886
; but of course, he very quickly associated himself with their aspirations. Indeed, in a sense he had anticipated them, for already in
1884
, when he was only halfway through his degree course, he had won the prize, at the
Liverpool national
eisteddfod
, for a handbook on the history of
Wales
to
1282
, an essay which was published in the
Transactions
of that
eisteddfod
.

He returned to
Aberystwyth
in
1885
as
lecturer in Welsh and History
. He remained there until
1892
, and it was there, in
1889
, that he prepared for the press
The Ancient Laws of Wales
, a volume written by
HubertLewis
(who had died in
1884
;
DWB
, 554)
. But in
1892Lloyd
moved to
Bangor
as the
registrar
of the
University College of North Wales
and assistant to
PrincipalReichel
in the department of History. Later on he used to describe humorously (but hardly strictly correctly) how he divided his workday at that time ‘
lecturer
in the morning,
registrar
in the afternoon, and
researcher
in the evening’. He was an exact and organized
registrar
; he was remarkably prudent and patient, and as his experience grew he became an exceedingly useful committee member; there was none better at wording a resolution or an official document. He was thereafter a member of all kinds of committees in
Wales
(until the
deafness
of his later years affected his ability to respond in discussion). He was particularly useful when the
University of Wales
was reorganized in
1919
; it was he, for instance, who
drew up the constitution
of its
Board of Celtic Studies
, and he served as its
chairman
until
1940
. He was prominent in the activities of the
Cambrian Archaeological Association
and was twice its
President
. Reference has already been made to his prominence in the conferences of his denomination. And on no account should his service to the
Society for the Utilization of the Welsh language
be forgotten; he used to lecture in its summer schools for teachers and he wrote for it bilingual textbooks on Welsh history. He also played a part in the
National
Eisteddfod
Association
.

He continued as
registrar of the college
at
Bangor
until
1919
, but he had already succeeded
Reichel
in the
chair of History
in
1899
. This was the beginning of the most productive period of his career, the period that raised him to his true fame. He
wrote regularly to the academic journals on topics in the history of Wales
. In
1911
he produced his great standard work,
A History of Wales to the Edwardian Conquest
, which reached its third edition in
1939
. It is no exaggeration to claim that this book was a turning-point in the study of Welsh history; it was the fruit of a thorough assessment of the sources, and a clear and readable exposition of the course of the history of the Age of the Princes. A few details were corrected by him (mainly in the
Bulletin
of the
Board of Celtic Studies
) and by other researchers, but the body of the work remains authoritative to this day. It brought him the degree of
D. Litt., Oxford
,
1918
. In
1930
he was elected a
Fellow
of the
British Academy
(
F.B.A.
), and it was to that body that he delivered his
Sir John Rhŷs Lecture
on
The Welsh Chronicles
, which was published in
1930
- a notable example of the nature of its author's mind.

Almost to the end,
Lloyd
restricted himself, in his published work, to the period on which he had begun writing as far back as
1884
. But he was persuaded to move to a later period when he was elected
Oxford Ford Lecturer
in
1931
. He chose as his subject the history of
Owain Glyn Dŵr
(
DWB
, 691-2)
, and the work was published under the title
Owen Glendower
(the title was chosen by the press) in
1931
. Once again the author's characteristics can be seen — the detailed scrutiny of sources and the clear narrative of the history of
Owain
's career. In
1930
he wrote a little book on the whole range of Welsh history in
Benn
's series, a
Welsh
version of which was published by
Aberystwyth Press
in
1943
under the title
Golwg ar hanes Cymru
. It would be a great mistake to assume that
Lloyd
was not truly well-versed in the history of his country after
1415
. One need only glance at the collection of notes kept in the library of the
University of Wales
,
Bangor
, to see how extensive was his interest in the later periods, as was his knowledge of details (often very obscure). This information, the fruits of what he called ‘pottering’, was always available to inquirers both within the college and outside. Indeed, he had long grown to be the oracle, as it were, on the whole history of
Wales
; and to him everyone turned for advice and guidance in this field. He was, thus, the inevitable choice as
editor
of
The History of Carmarthenshire
in
1935
. And when the
Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion
decided in
1937
to undertake the preparation and publication of
Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig
he was invited to be
editor
and it was he who brought the project to the notice of the nation in a public meeting in
Cardiff
in
1938
. It was rightly held that his name and reputation would guarantee the standard of the work.

He had extensive experience of this kind of work as he had contributed from
1893 to 1912
some 120 essays on famous
Welshmen
to the
Dictionary of National Biography
. He began his new task immediately: selecting names to be included and authors to write the essays, and he himself wrote over 60 essays under the first letters of the alphabet. But war broke out; the arrangements were postponed; and when it became safe to take up the task again in
1943
, he felt that he could not now be involved with the correspondence and proof-reading and he chose to be called the
Consultative Editor
. But the consultation was by no means in name only, for he met weekly for some time after with his successor to review the progress of the work and to make valuable suggestions; and of course the work continued by his two successors, as far as possible, along the lines which he himself had drawn up.

But his health was now deteriorating, and he died on
20 June 1947
. He was buried in the old cemetery at
Llandysilio
, on the island opposite
Menai Bridge
. He had been awarded many honours:
knighted
in
1934
; honorary degree of
D. Litt.
of the
Universities of Wales
(
1922
) and of
Manchester
, and the
freedom of the city of Bangor
in
1941
. He had a strong constitution and pleasant features: his stance was dignified when he addressed an audience, his voice clear and his language, whether in
English
or in
Welsh
, correct and formal, and he was always neatly dressed. He had been brought up in the heyday of the Victorian age and there is no doubt that the ideals of that age formed (or coloured) to a large extent his public conduct and his style of writing. He never sought to be ‘popular’, either on a platform or on paper. Consequently he was considered by some to be a ‘distant’ and formal person — and certainly he was not one with whom people dared to be overfamiliar. But in more intimate circles he was free, not infrequently humorous. Nevertheless, his dignity and refinement were always to the fore.

He married
ClementinaMiller
of
Aberdeen
, a former pupil of his at
Aberystwyth
, in
1893
; she died in
1951
. They were survived by a daughter and a son.

Sources:

J. Goronwy Edwards
in
Proceedings of the British
Academy
,
1955
, and also
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography1941-50
;

Thomas Richards
,
Y Llenor
,
October 1947
;

information from his daughter,
Mrs. Eluned Garmon Jones
;

personal knowledge.

A long, but incomplete, list of Sir John's writings on very diverse subjects, not historical only, is in the
Bulletin of the Board of Celtic
Studies
,
May 1948
, 96-105.